"Sizzle... sizzle..."
At the cliff edge of the volcano, a series of strange sounds echoed.
A handsome young man was using his hand blade to saw at the head of a fire phoenix, much like sawing wood.
This, of course, was Yuwen Tuo.
The battle with the Evil Fire Phoenix had ended, and he hadn't expected the Evil Fire Phoenix's soul strength to be as tenacious as its vitality. After completely absorbing the Light of Time and Space, it still retained a trace of its soul's origin.
In this state, it was certainly not dead, merely in a vegetative state, like a human.
But Yuwen Tuo needed to absorb its soul ring. What use was it to him if it was a vegetable? He had to kill it.
So, he could only saw off its head.
"I say, little brother, this Evil Fire Phoenix is dying too tragically. Can't you just give it a quick death with the Xuanyuan Sword?" Snow Empress said. A magnificent 100,000-year soul beast, sawn to death like wood how would it be able to hold its head high when it met other soul beasts in the underworld?
Yuwen Tuo replied, "I don't have much soul power left. At this point, the Blazing Emperor Blade is better; it's a passive skill and doesn't consume soul power."
"Then even the Soul Integration Technique can't assimilate it?" Ice Empress asked.
Yuwen Tuo shook his head. "My stamina, soul power, and mental power are all too depleted. I can't use it for now."
The last time he effortlessly assimilated the Evil Eye Tyrant, it was largely because the one who truly subdued the Evil Eye Tyrant at the time was actually Golden Peng; Yuwen Tuo merely capitalized on the situation.
But now, he had to control the Evil Eye Tyrant while fighting himself, which consumed an immense amount of energy.
He had originally thought of meditating to restore his power first, then performing the Soul Integration Technique. However, considering the Evil Fire Phoenix's powerful self-restoration ability, Yuwen Tuo feared that by the time he recovered, it might also recover with its last trace of soul origin. He didn't want to fight such a difficult creature again; it was too exhausting. Anyway, the Workaholic (Evil Eye Tyrant, perhaps as a controlled entity) currently had enough use.
After more than ten minutes, with a thud, the Evil Fire Phoenix's head was finally sawn off by Yuwen Tuo.
A red soul ring emerged from its body. Simultaneously, a fiery red soul bone floated up from the Evil Fire Phoenix's right claw.
This was a right arm bone, quite suitable for Yuwen Tuo, and like the left arm bone, it was fire-attributed, perhaps even complementing each other.
Yuwen Tuo simultaneously absorbed the soul ring and soul bone.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the soul ring entered his body, an incredibly vast surge of resentment surged towards him.
"Wow, this Evil Fire Phoenix has such deep resentment, such a strong soul shock!"
If it weren't for Yuwen Tuo's 400,000-year skull protecting him, coupled with the Life Essence Gold safeguarding his spiritual sea, anyone else whose spiritual sea was hit by such a soul shock would likely suffer immediate brain death.
Snow Empress said grumpily, "Nonsense. The Evil Fire Phoenix is inherently a soul beast with extremely strong malicious intent. You made it die in such a humiliating way; it would be a problem if its resentment wasn't strong."
"Little brother, we can't help you this time. Although with your current spiritual power and physique, you can definitely withstand this 100,000-year soul ring, it won't be easy. You'd better enjoy it slowly." Ice Empress finished, then pulled Snow Empress and said, "Snow Maiden, ignore this brat. Let's go chat over there!"
These two heartless sisters thus abandoned Yuwen Tuo, flying to his second spiritual sea to enjoy their sisterly bonding, leaving Yuwen Tuo alone to contend with the Evil Fire Phoenix's soul shock.
The sun rose in the east, set in the west, and rose again in the east.
A full day and night passed before Yuwen Tuo's soul power gradually stabilized. This was the first time it had taken him so long to absorb a soul ring.
But as Ice Empress had predicted, absorbing this soul ring was merely somewhat troublesome for Yuwen Tuo. It was simply a matter of when he would succeed, as he would ultimately succeed.
At this moment, Yuwen Tuo's level reached the peak of sixty-three. Soul rings and soul bones obtained through exploding them were indeed not as perfect as those from sacrificial offerings.
The level increase was not as much as Yuwen Tuo had estimated. If it had been a perfect sacrifice, he would have reached at least sixty-five or sixty-six.
However, the four skills he gained were still quite good.
Two sixth soul skills from the Fire Elephant martial spirit:
Blazing Vortex: Just like the Evil Fire Phoenix's signature move, it summons countless fire tornadoes to trap opponents. It's a powerful group control skill with some attack capabilities.
Vermilion Bird's Flap: The power of the Fire Elephant condenses into a Vermilion Bird to assist in battle. Of course, this name is merely for show; it's actually just the image of the fire phoenix. If it were a real Vermilion Bird, let alone a Titled Douluo, even Tang San could be fanned to death with one wing. The summoned creature's strength is determined by Yuwen Tuo's own power. Currently, the Vermilion Bird he summons has a strength close to that of a Soul Saint.
Two soul skills from the Fire Phoenix right arm bone:
Rebirth Through Fire: This skill is the Fire Phoenix's ability to heal itself using flames. With this, combined with the Life Essence Gold, Yuwen Tuo can become an unkillable existence. The drawback is that this skill can only absorb other people's fire to heal himself; his own generated fire is useless. This means that to maximize the power of this skill, Yuwen Tuo needs to be accompanied by fire-attributed teammates.
Fiery Flames Ablaze (Huoyan Yanyi): A skill whose name is composed entirely of the character for "fire." As the name implies, it merges all flames to unleash a supreme strike.
When unleashing this skill, all of Yuwen Tuo's fire-attributed skills will be integrated into his right arm.
For example, his first soul skill Blazing Slash, second soul skill Shadow Wing Slash, fourth soul skill Fire Meteor of Red Earth Thousand Miles, fifth soul skill Rainbow Seven Fires of Heavenly Rainbow Trickle, and the 100,000-year left arm bone's Blazing Emperor Blade—all soul skills' power condense into one strike.
It's somewhat like Soul Ring Fusion, but without such a large consumption. Instead, it's more like the fire lotus ultimate technique of a certain fire-wielding, time-saving master from another world.
Even the drawbacks are the same: while its power is extremely astonishing, it requires time to charge, during which he cannot move. Similar to Rebirth Through Fire, it also requires teammate assistance to fully unleash its power.
Overall, it's quite decent, significantly increasing Yuwen Tuo's strength. Most importantly, he successfully broke through to Soul Emperor.
There are still about three and a half years until the next Soul Master Tournament, so breaking through to Soul Saint is more than enough for him.
He will still participate in the next tournament, but whether he wins the championship or not is not important. What's important is that the two biggest events of that tournament, aren't they the bombing of Mingdu and the entrapment of numerous academies and sects by the Sun Moon Empire?
Such an interesting matter, how could he not get involved? This is a rare good opportunity to significantly weaken the Sun Moon Empire's effective forces and to gain the gratitude of other sects and academy forces for the Heaven Dou Empire and the Body Sect.
Due to its previous overbearing actions, the Body Sect's reputation on the continent has never been good. If possible, Yuwen Tuo still wants to change the current situation.
"Little brother, don't rush down the mountain. You've been fighting continuously recently, and your consumption in all aspects is very great. The Fire Energy on Mt. Rilun is dense, and because the Evil Fire Phoenix drove away a large number of soul beasts and occupied this place alone, there is no danger.
It is the most suitable place for your mimetic cultivation," Snow Empress reminded. "It's not too late to stay here, utilize this cultivation environment, fully restore to peak condition, and repair the Evil Eye Tyrant's physical body before descending the mountain."
"I understand. Thank you for your warning, Sister Snow Empress!" Yuwen Tuo nodded. How could he not think of what Snow Empress could think of?
Once he descended the mountain, he wouldn't have good fire-attributed teammates who could help him recover using the Rebirth Through Fire soul bone skill.
But was there truly no one?
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